How to examine anxiety, perceived competence and willingness to communicate in real time and what doing so means

For the past decade, the complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) approach to describing second language learning has presented our field with one conundrum after another. On the one hand, a dynamic systems approach offers a compelling story of development, rooted in messy variability that seems true to the nature of learning as people experience it. On the other hand, there is a gap between the promise of CDST and its research products so far. Why? The difficulty lies not just in conceiving the world in dynamic terms is itself complex, but also that methodology to study dynamic systems in the second language arena is in need of further development. This presentation will review a series of problems and solutions to the methodological challenges presented by a dynamic approach. The focus will be on changing the view of how individual difference concepts, including language anxiety, perceived competence and willingness to communicate, work together in real time. This work is challenging not only the way research is done, but also the nature of the research questions allowed in the field. At the moment, however, thinking about dynamic systems in second language development is well ahead of rigorous, empirical descriptions of those systems. However, as this problem is being solved, new and informative insights in both teaching and research are emerging.